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In the US nearly every state allows child marriage. In some there are even loopholes that allow child rapists to avoid prosecution by marrying the person they raped. In others parents can, in effect, force their children to get married.
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It’s a global issue - one in five girls around the world is married as a child - but you might be surprised to know that nearly 250,000 children were married in the US in the first ten years of this century.
In this So What we look at child marriage in the US, why it’s legal and what campaigners are doing to tackle what they see as child abuse.
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In the US nearly every state allows child marriage. In some there are even loopholes that allow child rapists to avoid prosecution by marrying the person they raped. In others parents can, in effect, force their children to get married.
(Click to subscribe for more Channel 4 News videos - )
It’s a global issue - one in five girls around the world is married as a child - but you might be surprised to know that nearly 250,000 children were married in the US in the first ten years of this century.
In this So What we look at child marriage in the US, why it’s legal and what campaigners are doing to tackle what they see as child abuse.
-------
Watch more of our explainer series here -
Get more news at our site -
Follow us:
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What is Child Bride?Child marriage is a formal marriage or informal union entered into by an individual before reaching a certain age. This is specified by several global organizations such as UNICEF as minors under the age of 18. The legally prescribed marriageable age
in some jurisdictions is below 18 years, especially in the case of girls; and even when the age is set at 18 years, many jurisdictions permit earlier marriage with parental consent or in special circumstances, such as teenage pregnancy. In certain countries, even when the legal marriage age is 18, cultural traditions take priority over legislative law. Child marriage violates the rights of children; it affects both boys and girls, but it is more common among girls.
Who are Channel 4?Channel 4 is a British public-service free-to-air television network headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It began transmission on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned. The station is now
owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation, a public corporation of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The channel was established to provide a fourth television service to the United Kingdom in addition to the licence-funded BBC One and BBC Two, and the single commercial broadcasting network ITV.
What is America?The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America. It is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million
km2), the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles (10.1 million km2). With a population of over 327 million people, the US is the third most populous country.
